sySpringDawn

Our chosen anchorage today was Porto Pino just a few miles along the southern Sardinian coast from Porto Teulada. The bay is wide with a long beach and sand dunes, behind which there's a lagoon where there's a colony of flamingos.

It was a really windy day but despite this we were quite comfortable at anchor as there was very little fetch. Just before lunchtime, we heard shouting and realised it was someone on an Italian yacht anchored nearby with a family of Dad, Mum and three children on board. Through various gesticulations they managed to convey that they wanted to talk to us on the VHF radio so we switched to the requested channel and Robbie chatted to Fabriccio who explained that they were unable to start their engine as their battery was flat. In addition to this, their outboard engine on the dinghy wouldn't work either so they were unable to get ashore to find assistance. There was no question of them trying to row the dinghy ashore as they wind was a constant 20 knots, gusting up to 28 knots.

Robbie said he'd try and help! He disconnected Springy's engine battery, pumped up our dinghy which was deflated on the foredeck, put our outboard on, loaded up the dinghy with the battery and tools and wizzed over. He had them going in minutes – result! The family were so grateful and set off to their mooring in Carloforte which is about 20 miles away. However, they were back in anchorage within a short time having found that, when rounding the headland, there was a head wind of about 30 knots so it wasn't worth banging into that and they spent another night at anchor.

The wind eased in the evening and Robbie and I raised our glasses in a toast to four years since we untied Springy's lines and left our mooring in Hamble!

I forgot to take any photos in Porto Pino but took this one the following evening in Carloforte when we met up with Fabriccio and family – more of that in another blog!